Simple solutions to complex problems.
A friend of my called it (quoting from someone else) ‘Trumpism’. And the moniker is appropriate: Donald Trump’s solution to “make America great again” is a very simple, dare I say ‘simplistic’ solution. Bring jobs back from third world countries, buy only American products, avoid costly wars, drink disinfectant to cure Covid-19.
Problem with ‘simplistic’ solutions is that most of them, most of the time, are based on erroneous assumptions. What if jobs were mostly destroyed by automation? What if Americans don’t want to do all the dirty, soul-killing jobs of the coal mines and blast furnaces? What if Americans do not want to buy American made products because others can be cheaper and so much better? What if costly foreign wars are loved by the military-industrial-complex that support your political ambition? What if drinking Lysol would kill us?
And then there is the problem with the long term goal. Beyond the next election? Scientists know that phrasing the question in the proper terms have a profound effect on finding the correct answer. The conflict, as usual, is between short term individual interests and long term social interest.
Finding solutions for short term personal interest can be hellishly complicated, while long term societal interest can be stated usually in very simple terms. However, nobody anymore think about long term societal interests. Science fiction writers have been doing it for centuries but nobody listens to them anymore, if anyone ever did.
Long term societal interests can be stated in very simple terms: Don’t cut off the branch you are sitting on.
It’s that simple.
Problem with ‘simplistic’ solutions is that most of them, most of the time, are based on erroneous assumptions. What if jobs were mostly destroyed by automation? What if Americans don’t want to do all the dirty, soul-killing jobs of the coal mines and blast furnaces? What if Americans do not want to buy American made products because others can be cheaper and so much better? What if costly foreign wars are loved by the military-industrial-complex that support your political ambition? What if drinking Lysol would kill us?
And then there is the problem with the long term goal. Beyond the next election? Scientists know that phrasing the question in the proper terms have a profound effect on finding the correct answer. The conflict, as usual, is between short term individual interests and long term social interest.
Finding solutions for short term personal interest can be hellishly complicated, while long term societal interest can be stated usually in very simple terms. However, nobody anymore think about long term societal interests. Science fiction writers have been doing it for centuries but nobody listens to them anymore, if anyone ever did.
Long term societal interests can be stated in very simple terms: Don’t cut off the branch you are sitting on.
It’s that simple.
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